no matter how many times a snake shed its skin, it would always be a snake. no matter how hard kit dempsey tried to prove he was no longer a traitor, camp half-blood would always view him as the boy who betrayed them for kronos. but not leo valdez...
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CHAPTER FOUR: ONLY ON WEDNESDAYS
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KIT DIDN'T STICK around after Piper was claimed. He slipped through the crowd unnoticed, head hung low beneath his hood. Whatever Annabeth had to say about his role in Jason's quest, and Kit just knew she'd have something to say, could wait for the morning. One look at the wretched blonde and he'd lose it. No, he needed the lake again, the silence between just him and the moon. Alas, he didn't get very far before he noticed something strange.
Leo was just ahead of him, glancing over his shoulders warily as he paused by the edge of the woods. Kit frowned at his back. He wasn't thinking of going in there, was he? Surely he knew how unbelievably stupid that would be after what Nyssa had said about the unpredictable nature of the dragon. But with a determined nod, he stepped past the first line of trees. Kit let out a sigh. Once again, Leo Valdez had proven to Kit Dempsey that he was, indeed, unbelievably dumb.
Kit didn't owe him anything, and yet he found himself hesitating too. If Leo died before their quest even began, the other campers would undoubtedly find a way to pin it on him. Leo, Jason and Piper were his companions now, regardless of whether he liked it or not. He had to follow him, he'd have to care about all of them soon. And so with a heavy sigh, he changed paths, ducking into the shadows of the forest just as the other demigods arrived over the crest to head back to their cabins.
The woods were truly eerie. Kit didn't get scared often, but in the pit of the lion's den, even he could admit that a certain chill ran up his spine, like eyes were peering through every crevice waiting to strike. Kit swallowed thickly as several branches crackled beneath his shoes. For a moment, he wasn't the seventeen-year-old boy wearing regret like a second skin, but a boy who had just lost his mother, a boy being promised sanctuary by a god-like, golden-haired teenager as he lost one piece of his family and hoped to gain another.
Kit quickly shook the thought away, goose bumps rising along his skin. He'd lost sight of Leo, forcing him to quicken his pace in the hopes of finding him before the dragon did. Fortunately for him, Leo didn't know how to use the shadows to his advantage. He was just up ahead, feet abrasive as they stomped through the mud. Kit could hear him muttering to himself, causing him to sigh and shake his head. If Kit was a monster (well, a demigod eating one) Leo Valdez would be done for.
He snuck up behind him, smirking as Leo still failed to notice him. And with a grin rather unlike Kit Dempsey, he clamped his hands down on the shorter boy's shoulders, bursting into laughter as Leo shrieked and attempted to kick him off.
"You should've seen your face, Valdez," he murmured before pulling an over-exaggerated expression of fear that Leo did not find amusing.
"Very funny, Christopher," he muttered as he dusted himself off. His cheeks were rosy beneath the pale light of the moon, something Kit immediately picked up on but chose not to point out. He'd reached his quota of amusement for the night. "What are you doing out here? Did you follow me?"
